1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for the production of ether sulfonates. The invention also relates to the ether sulfonates obtained by the process.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Of the numerous groups of anionic surfactants, those containing an SO.sub.3.sup..crclbar. -group as a water-solubilizing group are of the greatest commercial significance. Within that group, a distinction is drawn between sulfate surfactants and sulfonate surfactants.
The sulfate surfactants are semiester salts of sulfuric acid. Of these salts, alkyl ether sulfates are of particular importance because, by virtue of the glycol ether groups in the molecule, they show very high solubility in water and, accordingly, are particularly suitable for use in the production of liquid detergents and cleaners.
One disadvantage of alkyl ether sulfates is their inadequate resistance to hydrolysis which prevents them from being used of acidic cleaners.
Sulfonate surfactants are salts of alkyl sulfonic acids and are stable to hydrolysis, even in acidic medium. However, there are only a few, technically complex processes for the production of sulfonate surfactants which contain glycol ether groups to increase their solubility in water. Examples of known ether sulfonates are the alkyl glycol ether sulfonates known from U.S. Pat. No. 1,985,747, and the alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonates known from German Application Nos. 10 75 779 and 10 81 172.